Wikipedia misleads, smears about Obama citizenship "conspiracy theory"

Wikipedia has a page called "Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories" (en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories) that smears those who have questions about where Obama was born and whether he's eligible to be president as fringe conspiracy theorists. And, as will be shown below, that page has been grossly misleading visitors about this issue for almost two and a half months: since around Christmas, anyone who's relied on the article has been misled. (Note: see the Obama citizenship page for our extensive coverage of this issue.)

The misleading passage is the following; note that there are probably other misleading statements on the page and if so they may be discussed in future posts:

People such as Alan Keyes who are questioning Obama's birth location point to a Hawaii statute that allows births to be registered for children born out of state; however, that law was only passed in 1982 (21 years after Obama's birth registration) and its text does not indicate that out-of-state births will be listed with a Hawaiian place of birth.

That's the form that's been on the page since about January 20; earlier forms were similar and are included below.

Why is that misleading? Primarily because the year when the law was passed does not matter. The law is S. 338-17.8 (cached here), with the parts relevant to the current discussion bolded:

...Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child...

The Territory of Hawaii was dissolved in 1959. If this law had been intended to only include children born in 1982 or later, would they have referred to the "Territory" of Hawaii? Clearly, this law was intended to include those born before 1982 as well. If you can find even a single lawyer disputing that, leave a comment with their name.

Yet, that's not the impression that the Wikipedia passage gives. The Wikipedia passage is just as clearly intended to lead the visitor to believe that the Hawaiian law couldn't apply to Obama because he was born 21 years before the law was put on the books. Yet, it doesn't matter: Obama could have been born 31 years before the law was put on the books (i.e., in the Territory of Hawaii) and he'd still be covered under the law.

Necessary disclaimer: the above doesn't mean that Obama took advantage of that law. It just means that it's a possibility.

The Wikipedia quote above also contains two other misleading statements:
1. What "birth registration"? Where is the definitive proof that Obama's birth was registered when he was born?
2. The fact that "[the law's] text does not indicate that out-of-state births will be listed with a Hawaiian place of birth" does not matter. That's presumably an invalid attempt to legitimize the picture of a certification of live birth on Obama's website. Yet, that picture has never been verified by the issuing authority or by any other government agency. It probably isn't fake, but we do not know that for certain. Until its contents are verified by a government agency, it's just a picture on a webpage.

PRIOR VERSIONS:
Until about mid-January, this was the version of the paragraph above:

People such as Alan Keyes who are questioning Obama’s birth location point to a Hawaii statute that allows births to be registered for children born out of state; however, that law was only passed in 1982, 21 years after Obama's birth registration.

Before December 23, 2008, it had this version (or wasn't there):

People such as Alan Keyes who are questioning Obama’s birth location point to a Hawaii statute that allows births to be registered for children born out of state, a law passed in 1982.

The December 23, 2008/ 15:27 revision from user "Kwdavids" changed the previous version to this:

People such as Alan Keyes who are questioning Obama’s birth location point to a Hawaii statute that allows births to be registered for children born out of state; however, that law was only passed in 1982, 21 years after Obama's birth registration.

"Kwdavids" annotated that change with "Reworded section on Alan Keyes claims to make it clearer. This does not change the meaning." Yes, indeed.

UPDATE: To be precise, it's a "Certification of Live Birth", not a "Certificate of Live Birth".

Comments

Not only is there no birth certificate, but his college transcripts are sealed too, because he does not want anyone to see all of the stupid marxist-feminist-ethnic studies classes he took. The guy has never studied economics, as evidenced by current policy.

"Clearly, this law was intended to include those born before 1982 as well." No, it certainly was not. The law was enacted in 1982. Obama's birth was registered in 1961. But the point is moot. Obama's certification of live birth clearly says he was born in Honolulu in 1961. He's a natural born citizen, eligible to be President

You want to link to this document you cite as proof? I didn't think so, because no such document exists. What is he hiding? What are you hiding? And why are you a shill for a corrupt administration spreading lies? Put up or shut up.

http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/birth_certificate_2.jpg There is no reason to believe that this is a forgery. This is Obama's Cerfification of Live Birth. This is what the state of Hawaii sends when you request a copy of your birth certificate. As you can see, the bottom reads that it is prima facie evidence. It is good in any court proceeding, passport request, and to prove that one is at least 35 and a natural born citizen of these great United States of America.

The same FactCheck page linked by Brian Manners contains a blatant lie. They claim that the 10/31 statement verified that Obama was born in Honolulu when - as I've said probably a hundred times - that's not what Hawaii said. See the summary page [1] for all the details.

Links:
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[1] 24ahead.com/s/obama-citizenship

Fukino and Okubo disagree with you. "Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai'i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai'i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama's original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures," Fukino said in the three paragraph statement. "No state official, including Governor Linda Lingle, has ever instructed that this vital record be handled in a manner different from any other vital record in the possession of the State of Hawai'i," the statement concludes. Does this mean Obama was born in Hawaii? "Yes," said Hawaii Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo, in both email and telephone interviews with the Tribune. "That's what Dr. Fukino is saying." http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/11/obama_hawaaianborn_citizen_for.html

Brian Manners: 1. When I asked Okubo about this, she disagreed with herself, refusing to confirm that their 10/31 indicated that he was born there. She's shown similar confusion before; see the Politifact entry where she first says the COLB picture looks like hers, and then says she doesn't know what it represents. 2. I called the author of the article you linked and pointed this out to him. He said it wasn't his concern that she'd switched her position and he was leaving looking into that up to me. Then he hung up.

You can find a (supposedly genuine) copy of his birth certificate online; it says he was born in Honolulu. I can't say what the intent of the law(makers) was, but it does clearly say "Territory or State of Hawaii", which seems to indicate that if someone born outside of Hawaii whose parents fulfilled the residency requirements for the Territory of Hawaii -- i.e. before Hawaii became a state -- then they could apply for and get a birth certificate issued by Hawaii. Meaning the law was meant to apply to people born before it was passed. It's conceivable. So the possibilities seem to be 1) the birth certificate is a fraud, or 2) he was born outside the US but got a Hawaiian birth certificate due to this law/his parents claim about residency within the "Territory or State of Hawaii"; but if that's the case, why does the birth certificate plainly state that he was born in Honolulu? -- in such cases do they issue some other document? This Hawaiian state law seems odd because maybe it can result in certifying in-state births and hence US citizenship when in fact the person was born outside the US. Which seems contrary to federal law. I think that even if Obama had been born outside the US, because his mother was a citizen he could have regularized/become a citizen, i.e. if applicable law did not automatically grant citizenship, which it may not have (or it may have -- I don't know all the details of the law, e.g. the case where only one parent is a citizen). Which is not uncommon -- it's just a matter of going through the process. But I guess that's what some people are claiming never happened.

If Wikipedia would like to sum up Obama's foreign policy, if got it all here in one great satirical piece: Swedish scientists prove Obama should not be compared to a chimp [1]

Links:
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[1] www.ihatethemedia.com/swedish-scientists-prove-obama-should-not-be-compared-to-a-chimp

petty bourgeois is right end of story.

ROFLMAO fact check as evidence????? that is the document that is nt a birth certificate and its a forgery, for the REAL simple minded people look at what they call his assumed fathers eace, look look look look , African was not anything to do with race then, he would be Negro or Arab

ok mr dullard , the item in fact check uses a border that was not designed untill 2006 also-looklook look loook looooook , experts have examined it and by your insane remarks your not an expert-----look oook look look at his presumed Selective Service also, he he he, its beyong forgery, school records sealed??? look look look look , he is registered as a foriegn born student so they got sealed and references removed drop it kiddies, you should be embarassed to admit sucking this guy off now anyway

"There is no reason to believe that this is a forgery." That is the most laughable statement ever.